Advancing American Freedom, a think tank founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, is unveiling its annual Independence Index, this year with more robust study in 29 areas it says can indicate national democratic health. The study tracks issues of concern in three categories: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The report offers a mixed bag of some conservative priorities on an upward trajectory over the past several decades and others on the decline, a study that AAF argues is important to track for the nation’s 250th birthday.
“It’s an interesting story,” AAF vice president for the Institute for Statistical Policy Analysis Kevin Dayaratna told RealClearPolitics. “Not surprisingly, we’re doing great on a variety of metrics, but unfortunately, around slightly over half of them we say we are losing ground where the trends are not really where they need to be.”
The report found that of 29 categories, eight areas are on an improving trajectory from a conservative perspective: the homicide rate, individual and corporate income tax, educational freedom, Second Amendment protections, real disposable income, household net worth, and job growth. Six areas either stalled or made no change, including car affordability and fatal overdose rates. But 15 areas are on a downward trajectory, according to the metrics AAF used, mostly in the “pursuit of happiness” portion.
Vice president for policy John Shelton told RCP the report is intended to provide a more holistic data set to inform policies written in Washington.
“Calculator brain can only get you so far, but at the end of the day, we need to have some sense of what’s working and what’s not,” Shelton told RCP. “We’re an organization that cares deeply about national growth, because usually when you have a strong economy, a lot of these indicators will go with it. People are more likely to be able to afford a home, feel comfortable, feel ready and prepared for marriage and children. The Independence Index tells a slightly different story, where even as we’ve made economic gains, we’ve slipped elsewhere.”
Different AAF departments authored each portion of the report. The authors then met with Dayaratna and his team to determine whether the issue had gained ground, stalled, or lost ground. In each section, a summary analyzes why the metric is important to a conservative understanding of independence. For example, one portion argues that regulatory burdens can violate constitutional rights. Next, each section covers the trend for that issue nationally and then a state-by-state breakdown of five best and worst states for each item.
“I think this provides a strong quantitative impression of how we’re doing as a nation,” Dayaratna said. “This is a project we intend to look at in the future, and I think there are a lot of great questions that can be answered.”
The report also represents AAF’s growth on the Washington think tank scene. Many of the authors listed in the report have been working at AAF for less than a year, after they quit the Heritage Foundation last fall when President Kevin Roberts released a controversial video about antisemitism and Tucker Carlson. In the following months, AAF built new positions and departments to hire the majority of Heritage staffers who resigned in protest. Dayaratna said the team worked closely to drastically scale up the annual Independence Index, now complete with data broken down not only nationally but also at a state level. The report itself grew from a 32-page document in 2025 to 132 pages this year, complete with a separate website to track the results.
Most areas that AAF deemed to be losing ground were in the “pursuit of happiness” section, which was divided into two questions: Do Americans have the opportunity to pursue happiness, and if so, are they taking advantage of those opportunities through community engagement?
The report found that while many Americans do have opportunity to live meaningful lives with homes, cars, and job opportunities, many are not engaged in civic life. The marriage rate has steadily declined since 1980, religious attendance is down across nearly every religion, and volunteerism has plummeted, along with organizational membership and public meeting attendance. In other words, Americans are less involved.
“If [President George H.W.] Bush referred to our volunteer culture as one thousand points of light, maybe we’re at 500 points of light or 20 now,” Shelton said. Like with other portions of the report, he said it’s connected to other indicators of independence. When people are lonely, they’re less likely to join outside organizations, such as religious institutions, which often provide ways for people to engage in civic participation like at a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.
“I actually think that’s a bigger red flag than household income or these other things that economists tend to look at,” Shelton said.
While the report does identify some policies that have helped or hindered each section, AAF is treating the results as a guideline rather than a particular call to action. Many in the conservative movement have adopted President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan to “Make America Great Again.” AAF does not join the bandwagon but does offer data to consider what the phrase could mean practically.
“It’s part of this larger conversation on the right that things aren’t going as well as we would hope,” Shelton said. “Is that then cause for more government intervention or less? Is that even the right framing? The index doesn’t answer definitively, but it does set up the kind of problems we need to be taking on.”
Carolina Lumetta is White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics. Follow her on X @CarolinaLumetta.
